Austria puts Syrian ex-intelligence chief in Raqqa on trial for torture

By Francois Murphy

VIENNA, June 1 (Reuters) - A former Syrian intelligence chief in the city of Raqqa went on trial in Austria on charges of torture and sexual abuse on Monday over the mistreatment of opponents of then-leader Bashar al-Assad more than a decade ago.

It is a relatively rare case of a European country claiming jurisdiction for alleged crimes committed by agents of Assad's government. The trial, due to last a month, will include alleged victims' testimony.

The primary defendant, identified only as Khaled al-H under Austrian privacy rules, was head of Syria's General Intelligence Directorate in Raqqa from the uprising against Assad in 2011 until the Free Syrian Army took over the city in 2013, which he says he helped facilitate before fleeing the next day.

The second defendant was a senior police official in Raqqa nicknamed "the Angel of Death," according to the prosecution.

Both are charged with causing serious bodily harm, aggravated coercion and sexual assault. Only Khaled al-H is accused of torture. They face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Both pleaded not guilty, and denied any involvement in torture or similar activities.

"Impossible. That would not be in my interest. It is also not how I was raised," Khaled al-H, who is a member of Syria's Druze minority, said when the presiding judge asked if he had used violence against anyone in his custody.

DEFENDANT DENIES COMMITTING OR WITNESSING TORTURE

Both sides gave vastly different accounts of conditions inside the directorate's building in Raqqa. Khaled al-H said no prisoners stayed overnight.

The prosecution described cells packed with 30 or 40 people and systematic abuse, with guards beating prisoners with green garden hoses to leave fewer marks and hosing them down with cold water both to reduce signs of abuse and to make the next day's beatings hurt more.

When shown drawings of different types of abuse, like beating the soles of a prisoner's feet, Khaled al-H denied ever seeing them or that they happened on his watch.

He also denied ever having seen a torture device known as the "magic carpet" - wooden planks in the form of a cross with a hinge in the middle, positioned near the prisoner's waist.

ASYLUM CLAIM AND INTELLIGENCE LINKS

Khaled al-H came to Austria in 2015 and claimed asylum while another asylum claim in France was still pending.

Despite media reports that he had been brought to Austria by a domestic intelligence service at the request of Israeli spy agency Mossad as part of "Operation White Milk," he was circumspect when asked if an intelligence service helped him come to Austria.

"I don't know. I have relatives who helped me. How they did that, I don't know," he said.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy in Vienna; Editing by Matthew Lewis)